2 weeks ago I did a 2k restricted at 26spm throughout and achieved a 6:39.9 final time. This was the next in the progression of 2k time trials, this time the same 26spm restriction for the first 1500m of the row (aiming for the same 1:40.0 pace), but then a free rate final 500m in which to increase pace for a quicker overall time. As with the last progression from 24 to 26spm, the first 1500m was a known commodity. I have done this 2 weeks ago and it was ok, so I knew I could do it again. Then with a free rate last 500m there was no question I could go faster, and I went into the row with no expectation other than that.

This is now within 10seconds of my best 2k time from this season so far and still at a very restricted rate. With another 5 weeks until my next race at the English IRC in Manchester this gives time for another 1 or two steps in this progression to build confidence further of an improved race performance there.

I last blogged when I was waiting at Heathrow airport for a flight to Las Vegas for a few days at a work event. On my first full day there I decided to just go and have a walk through the hotel gym with no expectation to see an erg there. To my surprise there was one lone erg tucked away in the corner, and as I had about 45mins spare I went out of the gym, straight back to my room, got changed and headed back to the gym.

January 15th:

30mins = 8103m / 1:51.0 / 25

The hotel gym was pretty hot and stuffy, as they usually are. It is strange as the US is the land of air conditioning that somehow hotel gyms still seem to be too hot. So the following day I just decided to do something a bit different with some negative split 1min reps – no targets or expectations, just negative splitting by a second a rep from a warm up pace of 1:49.

Friday 17th I then made my third transatlantic flight of the week with a short hop from Las Vegas to LA, then a couple of hours later the long flight back to London, arriving home about midday on Saturday 18th. No training then while I recovered over the weekend ready to head back to work on Monday. I headed home from work about an hour early on Monday 20th as I was so tired, and did a nice slow 30mins on the erg to help me sleep that night. A few days of early nights, and a further rest day on the Tuesday and I decided it was time to give the 5k a go. I wanted to do this as a marker to see what effect the 3 weeks of travel had on my form. I had done a 17:19.9 for 5k back on 19th Dec when I’d been training well, and although my 2 weeks in Seattle had some good training, it also had too much good food and drink. And lots of long haul travel never does me any good. I decided to set of aiming to pace the 5k just the same as that recent 5k in mid December and just see how far I could get. I was pleasantly surprised just to pip the December time.

Then after an easy row on Thursday, with the confidence and good knowledge of current form from the 5k, I decided it was a good opportunity to put in a 10k for the challenge series. Having used a 1:45 base pace in the 5k I decided on a 1:48 base pace for the 10k. I went out with a usual faster start with 7 hard strokes, 10 strokes to settle down to pace, then took a few hundred more metres to settle nicely on 1:48s, hence the faster first 1k. I kept this going to the half way point, then decided to slowly negative split to maintain the average pace that had dropped to 1:47.5 at this point. So from 5k to go I maintained the 1:47.5 average split until 4k to go, then aiming to slowly chip it down with (at that point) the intention of dropping it below 1:47.0 by the end. As I entered the last 2000m I still felt ok, and thought the season’s best was on. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite sure what my season’s best was, other than I thought it was in the 35:30s. So I began a strong negative split inside the last 2k, with a very strong last 1k and especially last 300m or so with 1:28s down the line to just dip under 35:30 and be sure of the SB. Chasing the predicted time by that point I wasn’t watching the split pace (which I normally do to maintain consistent pacing), so I was a little surprised to see quite how fast the last 1k had been.

I arrive back in the country on Friday 10th ready for a shower and an afternoon of sleep. Unfortunately some home issues put that off as I got home to find that the power had tripped out some days before, and the fridge-freezer had defrosted itself on the kitchen floor. So a few hours were spent clearing that up, and the days since have been a tail of lack of sleep due to bad jetlag. Recovering from jetlag doesn’t hold the same incentive either when you’re returning to the same time zone again (GMT-8) just a few days later. It was Sunday before I found enough energy to get back on the erg.

A single day back in the office yesterday, and in bed by 7pm last night. Unfortunately I was then up again a little after 11pm, ate dinner at 2.30am, then had a 2 hour sleep again from 4.30 to 6.30am – really not ideal. But this afternoon I was heading back off to the airport, so needed to do something this morning. The scheduled session looked like the best choice from the schedule for the week, even though it included a 2k time trial restricted to 26spm. 2 weeks ago I had done the 24spm version as a 6:49.5, and so went into the 2k with a target of trying to break 6:40.

14th January:

2k = 6:39.9 / 1:39.9 / 265min rest500m = 1:30.7 / 37

The 2k felt a lot more straight forward than the 24spm one from 2 weeks ago. Mainly this was because I had a better expectation this time of what I should achieve. I went into the r24 2k a bit blind and set off too fast, dropping pace in the second half. But that is the beauty of doing a progression of rate restricted 2ks, once you have the first one ticked off it gives you a great idea what you can then do at each step up the progression. So I knew I had done 1:42.x for a 2k at 24spm, so had to go quicker at r26. 1:40 pace was never going to be far away from what I should be achieving, and so it turned out.

The free rate 500m after a 5min break is then in there for a couple of reasons. The main one is to give you confidence that there is still a fair bit more pace left in you following the 2k. No matter how hard you push on a rate restricted 2k you can always go quicker on a free rate 500m after it (with a few mins rest between). I could have rated higher and gone quicker on the 500m, but it served its purpose well.

I am now at the airport waiting for a flight to Las Vegas, where I will be spending the next 3 days for work. With a current delay of 1 hour on the flight I’m passing the time in the lounge, and ready to get on the plane and fall asleep pretty quickly – at least it will pass quicker that way!

I felt tired this day, but the only time to train was first thing in the morning (without disrupting more important things that you do when on holiday). I don’t like to do interval sessions straight out of bed, especially when feeling fatigued, but it is better than not doing them at all. As I didn’t feel good I made the conscious decision to rate up (ie row at a higher stroke rate) and just get the reps done. Not enjoyable, but it did the job of getting through the session at a respectable pace.

Another day with very little free time, and only first thing in the morning to get a session in. With only 20mins spare I opted for a 500m warm up then a 5k with the first 3k @ 1:48.0 then a negative split final 2k. Again, better than nothing.

5k = 17:48.0 / 1:46.8 / 27

9th January:

Finally a 30mins this morning before now flying back to London this evening.

30mins = 8003m / 1:52.4 / 24

Overall only 3 days out of 2 weeks away where I haven’t trained, and so although the overall quality hasn’t been very high, I am certain that I am returning home at least in the same place fitness wise as when I left.

I flew from London to Seattle on Friday 27th December, arriving late afternoon. It’s easy when you go on holiday to skip training, but anyone who trains regularly knows that a couple of weeks off training, or even just off structured training, can take a good few weeks to come back from. It is generally not hard to find a free hour each day to do some training though, certainly for me it is easier than in normal life with work, commuting etc. I have also been making the most of jetlag and getting most sessions out of the way before 7am when there is little else to go and do anyway.